This time I'm going to be choosing my top 6 xbox 360 games just like I did for the original xbox.
Firstly; It's Batman Arkham asylum. Now this is by far the best DC game ever, and the best ever batman game adaptation yet to be released. The graphics on it are stunning, the characters are highly detailed, and the asylum itself looks just as brilliant. The story line is gripping and riddled, with you never knowing just what the joker, or any other villain is going to unleash on Batman next. The gameplay is incredible as well. It makes you feel like Batman as you creep around the asylum taking out enemies one by one. The heart beat monitor is a nice little reminder of just how powerful and terrifying you can truly be at times; and especially as you isolate enemies. And with enemies armed with guns the game forces you to think up clever tactics and strategies with the help of your bat vision. The bat vision illuminates enemies and allows you to know where enemies are, and if they are armed or not. You also acquire other gadgets such as explosive gel and a zip-line gun. The explosive gel allows you to break through certain weak walls to get to a new or hidden area. The gel can also be used as a weapon if enemies are standing in front of the wall, allowing you to blow both them and the wall up at once. The zip-line gun/launcher can get you from 1 area of a room to another in a matter of seconds for a handy escape or to get into a place for a quick attacking movement. The line launcher can also be used as a weapon too, as you can launch your self into an enemy or even a group of enemies at full speed. Upgrades on this game are a very nice feature, allowing you to buy these handy gadgets, or unlock new fighting moves or improve your health and armour. The boss fights Are a nice variation from the stealth gameplay, and allow you to go in with both fists raised and requires a different tactical approach when usually facing enemies who are significantly bigger than you. The gameplay in itself somehow manages to not get repetitive as the stealth parts get increasingly more challenging. And some bosses such as killer croc require you to sneak through crocks lair collection samples of the Jokers magic concoction whilst quickly having to fire a bat-arang or run away if killer crock jumps out of the water or starts shaking the planks beneath you. The final part of gameplay is the hand to hand combat. Quite a lot of times in the game you will find yourself faced with a gang of thugs who you have to take out using just hand to hand combat, and possibly any gadgets if you get the chance. The combat is brilliant. With free flowing moves as you punch, kick, dodge then leap over your opponent to finally unleash a powerful finishing move. Once again it makes you feel incredibly powerful as you take on and usually defeat a whole gang of thugs single handily. After You have finished the story mode There is a number of different things you can do. Firstly you can go back and see if you can find all the riddler trophies, solve all of his riddles, and get all character interview tapes scattered around the asylum. Outside of the campaign there is also arena fights where your aim is to take out as many waves of enemies as you can before you die. It can be pretty fun especially as the enemies get tougher meaning you have to be a lot more cautious and tactical. The final extra is the predator challenges In which you have to tactically and strategically use your stealth moves to take out all of the enemies as quick as possible. Not only this but the game sets you challenges to complete by taking enemies out in certain ways. This means that you really do have to plan out how you are going to approach the situation, as 1 small move can completely change the thought and movement patterns of the enemies. With this these challenges mean that the game is truly one of the most genuinely strategical and tactical games as it forces you to create your path carefully and with a lot of thought if you want to complete all of the challenges set in the level. This allows something which most games don't offer, and that's freedom. You can approach these challenges however you feel. Unlike most games which force you to complete them their way and their way only. If I was being ultra critical I would say that these challenges within the challenge maps can be one of the games floors. As in real life you would not go out of your way to make your victory look spectacular. You would instead just try and do what is easiest to get the job done. But as I said this is being ultra critical as it does make the game more interesting and challenging. There are many extra challenges to play so there is a lot to keep you entertained until the release of Arkham City!
My next game is the game Bionic commando. Now this isn't necessarily a game that would be in everyones to 5 or 6 list of games, but I think it's different yet still highly enjoyable. You play as a soldier who had lost his arm in battle and so was forced to replace it with this robotic arm. The story line isn't that complex, nor in depth. But I believe that the gameplay definitely makes up for it in my opinion. Now the arm allows you to move very much like spiderman. As you latch onto a lamppost or a building, you swing and let go in mid air at the highest point. Then you latch onto the nearest thing that is now in front of you in the air. It seems simple enough, and maybe too simple for some. But once you master the timing of it all, it's actually pretty satisfying swinging through the air in a smooth flow and rhythm. And it does make you feel quite powerful as you perfectly time every swing to perfection making it look so easy. And then the next main part is the combat. Now you can pick up guns every now and then, and also explosives. But with no ammunition you have one great alternative; your bionic arm. With your arm you can do multiple things. Close range attacks are very powerful, but far attacks allow to latch onto enemies like a rope. You can pick up enemies and chuck them. Pick up object and chuck it. Use your arm to smash rocks at enemies and objects. Their aerial attacks such as slamming your ram down onto the ground causing a a massive ripple in the surrounding area. And as the game progresses and your enemies get bigger and more powerful. You are given a whole host of different moves and gadgets to keep you satisfied right up until the end.
My third game is one that I'm sure most people would have heard of; and that's star wars the force unleashed. Now this is a game that had very mixed reviews about it. Some people found it disappointing, others just average but could be improved. And others like me found it brilliant. The story line is about a young boy who Vadar stumbles across when battling against the boys father, and the young boy tries to use the force to stop vadar. Vadar sees the potential in him and decides to spare his life, but bring him up with the dark side. You then later on play as Vadar's young apprentice as he does Darth Vadar's evil bidding. The thing that I found most appealing about this game, as the title "THE FORCE UNLEASHED" suggests; the game makes you feel incredibly powerful. You start off in the very 1st level as Darth Vadar himself and you immediately have all of the force powers at your disposal. This allows you to see what you could be later on in the game. As this level is what leads Vadar to the young boy. So as I mentioned the game makes you fell like almost a god as you take on enemies and make them look like planks of wood as you fling them through the air with complete ease. Then again as the enemies get larger in size the game requires more powerful moves and abilities, and a variation of attacks to defeat your opponent. With this comes an actin packed and highly explosive title that will surely blow you away with the force.
My fourth game is another one which may not be in everyones top games yet still got pretty high reviews. The game is wet. In which you play as a chick named Ruby; and she's far from a sweet and harmless princess. She is a trained killer armed with a gun or 2, and a samurai sword. The graphics are of a cartoony sort yet are still perfect for this action packed, yet slightly jokey game. The gameplay itself is very similar to games such as Max Payne and the matrix. In which you run across walls in slow motion and then shoot at your enemies. As Ruby you are equipped with everything from a pistol to a flaming crossbow. The game is filled with full on action and combo's as you run across walls, dive, shoot, then land on your knees and slide whilst shooting to finish your opponent with a deadly uppercut with your samurai sword. There are quite a few different moves and abilities available in the upgrade store and multiple weapons too. During the game you will come across 4 types of gameplay. firstly is the normal level scenes. Then there are arenas in which you are required to use all of your combo moves and in some ways tactically plan your route of who to take out first. In arenas you have to find all of the entrances and block them off so that no more enemies can join the fight. At the end of this there will sometimes be a final enemy to take out with a giant gun turret. As well as enemies having gun turrets, you do get to use a few along your journey. These scene are quite simple, but satisfying with this highly powerful gun taking out a large amount of enemies with ease, beats a pistol any day! The gun turret bosses require many shots mainly to the head to weaken them. And then you have to quickly stop them before they run away once they have taken too much damage. The 3rd type of gameplay is what I would call rage mode. When the whole screen goes red white and black (A bit like the intro song to casino royale) And you run at a large number of enemies all guns blazing. The gameplay isn't overly different from the rest but the pace of the game does seem to increase quite rapidly. The final type of gameplay is vehicle gameplay. Unfortunately you don't get to drive at all, but you do jump from vehicle to vehicle when the buttons flash up on the screen signaling for you to jump. Once again it doesn't bring that much more to the game. But it does just give you a nice bit of variety in the game. The only other variation is when you fall out of a plane and have to dodge and weave in and out of the planes body parts. You also have to take out a few enemies whilst free falling through the air. This again is a fun and unique variation requiring different co-ordination and reflex skills to complete the section. The main down falls of the game are luckily few, but the second one is a massive downfall. The 1st is the Lara Croft style climbing in which you leap from one hand hold to another. And one accidental slip and you'll plummet down to your death. Although again the climbing and swinging parts do give the game more variation, it can have some slight set backs every now and then. Finally is the games ending. The final 2 boss battles are done as cut scenes in which you tap whatever button appears on the screen, and Ruby performs a certain action against her opponent. Fail to do this and the scene shows you being defeated. If you successfully tap the right button then you will perform the next move in the sequence until you have finally defeated your opponent. For the final boss I would have expected and epic battle requiring skill and tactics. But instead all I got was a cut scene in which all I had to do was tap the buttons as they appeared on the screen to defeat the FINAL boss in the game. Even though this is a big down side to the game, everything else about it is still: epic!
Second to last is the game x-men origins; wolverine. This game is based on the movie that came with it, and goes by the story of how wolverine came to be this half man half wolf with metal claws person. And it goes right from the beginning to when he was just a child, then to when he meets William Striker who had formed a team of super beings. The game doesn't start as he is a child but instead just from his first big mission with William Striker as his leader. The game then goes on until things turn sour between Wolverine and Striker, for various reasons. And they then become enemies in the world of x-men. The gameplay is simple. It's all based on combo moves and special moves and power ups. With a pretty decent upgrade system to go with it. Now people say that this game is repetitive. And in a way it can't not be. A wolverine game was always just going to be based around destroying your opponents rather brutally. But the enemies get tougher and the variety of moves increases as the game progresses. This means you have to use your special moves tactically and save them until you need them for the bigger enemies. And so this is why it doesn't get boring. Because there are a number of moves and combos to unlock and perform. And the enemies do get tougher, requiring more skill and well thought out attacks to defeat them. Rather than just simply button mashing as other games will have you doing. The game seems to last a decent amount of time and flows quite nicely whilst jumping backward and forward in time to flashbacks in order to fill you in on any loose ends in the story line. The enemies vary pretty nicely and the boss battles are just as good requiring at times more complex and varied attacks in order to defeat your highly skilled and intelligent opponent. My 1 disappointment in the game is towards the end. The whole game seems to be of a nice length but then right at the end when you get to a key location in the game. You simply defeat a few easy enemies and then you have to face the 1st of 2 bosses. Now this is ok as the boss battles are good and the final boss as you'll see is a pretty tough opponent. But it would have been nice to have a bit more of a build up to get to the bosses. The only other variation of the game is when you are facing a sentinel as a boss. You weaken it and it flies up into the air. You latch onto it, damage it even more. But then go shooting down to the ground with it. With this section you have to dodge the incoming sentinel parts, or use your claws to destroy them. Once you get close enough to the sentinel you tap a button to latch onto it again and then damage it even more. You then repeat this a few times before you reach the ground eventually. The main thing about the game is that it is a movie game and most movie games just aren't that good. Simply because they are made just to go with the movie to make more money. But this is an exception. It feels like it has been well thought through and made like any other game with real ideas and intention in mind.
Finally is a recent game called Enslaved odyssey to the west. The story is a big part of the game and it starts pretty unusually. In the game you are straight away thrown into a climatic situation. Without any explanation you as your character called Monkey, have to get off of a spaceship before it blows up. I thought this was done brilliantly not only throwing you straight into the action, but not only this but the game already leaves you wondering what on earth is going on. Soon after you meet a character called Trip who forces Monkey to help her to get back to her home. Even though Monkey is far stronger than Trip, the game isn't called "Enslaved" for nothing. Monkey has a device on his head, put on him by Trip. And so if Monkey tries to harm Trip or escape, his head device will cause him to pay the price. The story line I must say is brilliant along with the rest of the game. Everything from the strong character bonds and personalities. To the twists and turns in the story. The gameplay splits into a few main categories. With Monkeys mighty strength there is of course always going to be fighting. Monkey has a staff which he uses in combat and Fighting the enemies in the game which are mechs of all varieties, different shapes and sizes. The staff itself does well to add a slightly more skilled style of fighting prepared to simple fist or sword fighting. The game like most in these genres has a fighting system of light attack, hard attack, special attack. And attacks that require you to push 2 buttons at once to perform the move. There are of course combo moves and a power up system that allows you to increase specific areas of Monkey. So combat, Monkeys staff, Health and armor As well as these combo moves you can also do finishing moves. These too can be a great help as some times when you take out a certain mech it will explode automatically stunning any surrounding mechs. And other mechs allow you to grab hold of them, then throw them at a mech or 2 just before the mech explodes. The boss battles are great as well. Not only requiring all of your skills and strength, but also some require logical tactics like using their strength against them, by dodging when they charge at you so they run into something. You also have ammo which comes in 2 types. The first is a fire blast which can sometimes take out a mech using 1 shot to the head. The other is a stun blast which will also temporarily disable any mechs with shields. there is also a dodge/evade button which is very useful with charging enemies or getting out of tight and enclosed situations and spaces. Finally by holding the attack button you will stun nearby enemies. Now although at the beginning of the game you may find yourself simply button mashing. By the end of the game when you have more moves and combos at your disposal, and the enemies increase in size and numbers; you certainly do become a master with a staff. 1 section I remember even forced me to really think about how to approach it. You face 3 waves of enemies before you move on. And in the area are a health pack and 1 set of stun bolts. You really have to use your health wisely as well as making sure not to use up your stun bolts too quickly. The other attacks are when you come across any gun turrets. This doesn't happen too often but it does make a nice, yet powerful change. Monkey also has 1 more surprise in store for you, as he shows you his final neat little gadget. It's called a cloud and works just like a hover board and is used to glide across water or during chase scenes. These sections have a unique and highly fresh feel to them and makes a brilliant change from walking around everywhere when you can glide at high speeds and shoot over ramps. The next part of gameplay is again the Lara Croft style climbing. I recently bought and completed uncharted 2, a game which involves a lot of climbing and jumping from hand holds. Enslaved differs from uncharted for 2 main reasons. Monkey again isn't called Monkey for no reason. As when he's jumping or swinging from pole to pole, and surface to surface. He does it with such agility and pace and it flows brilliantly like a monkey swinging from tree to tree. I remember 1 scene where you had to catch a dragonfly. The purpose of which is that this dragonfly would be what Monkey and Tip would use to scan and search areas before entering them. With Monkeys agility pace and rhythm it worked brilliantly and you did feel like an agile creature in the wild. The second of 2 reasons is that unlike with a lot of uncharted, there is a bigger sense of emergency. On the very 1st level the ship is about to crash into the top of a skyscraper. So unless you move quickly up the ship you get destroyed from the impact as the building collides with the ship. As well as this more hand holds through out the game will turn out to be un safe. So unless you move quickly they will fall and so will you if you are still holding onto them or standing on them. Although with uncharted certain things fall like in the 1st scene with the train. If the parts of the train fall you will just be left holding on even tighter. But with Enslaved if something falls then you fall with it. The final type of gameplay is small puzzles. Now they don't take a highly lateral mind to solve, but again it's just another variation of gameplay. The graphics are stunning. Highly colorful and detailed really making this fantasy world come to life right in front of your as you explore this incredible place. The only bad point I can think of with the game is that Monkey has a motor bike that he uses to travel across large distances with. When I saw Monkey shoot onto the screen with this motorbike, I thought wow, please say you get to drive it. Unfortunately this did not happen. Once again it would have just added that little bit extra to the game, just something more to show that this game is not just based around 1 type of gameplay; it's based around multiple types. But even without being able to ride the motorbike, the cloud still gives you the speed that you desire with the motorbike. So this is why Enslaved is such a good game; and possibly one of the best ones: That I have ever played!
So that concludes my best of the rest for xbox 360; hope you enjoyed reading it :)
